History

Originally inhabited by the Muscogee people, by the 1840s three small settlements existed nearby: Plains of Dura, Magnolia Springs, and Lebanon. As railway access expanded into the region in response to increased cotton farming, these settlements coalesced closer to the new railway location. As businesses rapidly developed, local businessmen successfully petitioned the State Legislature to shorten Plains of Dura to Plains.[1] Plains was subsequently incorporated in 1896.[2] Plains continued to experience growth fueled by cotton cultivation well into the early twentieth century. A substantial school and the pioneering Wise Sanitarium were both built in the 1920s.[2] Despite differentiation into peanut cultivation,[2] the Great Depression deprived the community of much of its prosperity.[3] Plains remained a quiet Southern town until Jimmy Carter rose to political prominence in the 1970s.[2]